Mermaid Tears
by blottyparchment
Summary: They have returned from the underwater village and they have brought back Manaka with them. Chisaki has insecurities returning to that desolate place. Post Episode 18. Written before Episode 19 aired, so kind of an AU. Squint for all kinds of pairings.


Mermaid Tears (Part 1)

They have returned from the underwater village and they have brought back Manaka with them. Kaname forces Chisaki to confront her insecurities about returning to that desolate place. Post Episode 18. Written before Episode 19 aired. Squint for pairings. Angst train. And finally, a warning for being a bit graphic in describing Manaka's condition.

* * *

Mermaid tears are an elusive thing. Legend has it that there was once a mermaid of haunting beauty, as all mermaids were. However, this mermaid was a strange creature for her insatiable curiosity about humans and the surface they lived on. She would often swim to the surface and passed her days sitting on the rocks, watching ships come and go. And then, she fell in love with the dark-haired, young captain of a merchant ship. She always kept her distance, careful not to be seen, contented to observe his fine, lithe figure from afar while he commandeered his crew to climb the masts and unfurl the sails, his ship enduring one sea crossing after another. Always, she prayed for his safe journey, until there came a time when, a treacherous storm ravaged the seas, and the torrential rains, the furious winds, and the heaving currents, conspiring, threatened to capsize his ship. The captain lost his grip on the steering wheel and tumbled overboard, but the mermaid, using her supernatural powers, dispelled the bad elements and rescued her beloved from drowning, preventing the seafarer from meeting his demise. However, the mermaid incurred the wrath of the Sea God, who was angered upon discovering that the mermaid had intervened in human affairs; he had forbidden any attempt to influence the course of nature, for it would upset the balance of the world. As punishment, the Sea God banished the mermaid to the bottom of the sea, condemned until the end of time, never to come up to the surface ever again. The lovelorn mermaid spent the rest of eternity, weeping and pining for her dark-haired captain, her glistening tears carried off by the tides, washing up on the shore in the form of crystalline drops – mermaid tears.

* * *

They had returned from the underwater village and they had brought back Manaka. Manaka, who was cradled so delicately in Hikari's protective arms. Manaka, who, similar to Hikari and Kaname, had not aged past fourteen years. However, something was wrong with her. Her normally unblemished flesh was now mottled with angry splotches of veined red where skin was unbroken and in contrast, blood and pus oozed where the ena was flaking off. She appeared to be having difficulty breathing properly, every shallow, ragged respiration seemingly wracking through her ribcage. Fear and agitation coiled in Chisaki as she watched her friend suffering on the tatami floor of the Kihara living room where Hikari carefully laid her down and where everybody was currently gathered.

"She hasn't woken up until now." Chisaki, who had just come from the kitchen with a tea service, heard Hikari say. He was fighting hard to sustain the calm in his voice, but he was about ready to explode out of his skin, any moment now. "Doctor, why won't she wake up?"

Chisaki set down the tray on the short-legged table, fingers enclosed over the handle, ready to pick up the steaming teapot, yet Tsumugu stayed her hand. "I'll do it."

Chisaki's eyes flickered in surprise, but then she nodded. "I'll go see to Manaka." She scooted over to sit beside Manaka's supine body, tucking her legs underneath. She could not help but stare fretfully at her friend's still form. So still, she could almost be dead if she was not huffing short, wheezy breaths. "Thank you," she told Tsumugu gratefully when he soundlessly placed a basin of water and salt next to her. Chisaki passed several more seconds before she resolved to roll her sleeves up to her elbows, soaked the towel, and then wrung it out completely. Gingerly, she touched the triangle of Manaka's palm, pausing for a heartbeat, then, steeling herself, snaked her hand beneath Manaka's palm and carefully folded over the sleeping girl's forearm. The conversation flowed on while Tsumugu served the tea and Chisaki concentrated on dabbing the damp cloth on Manaka's body.

Professor Satoshi Mihashi rubbed the stubble on his chin, thoughtful. "I don't understand either. I would say that she didn't take too well to the hibernation. The body functions that keep her ena working are not...how should I explain it? It's as if the organs responsible for reproducing ena are shutting down. No, it can't be..."

"What can't be, Doctor?" spurred on Kaname, looking unperturbed on the exterior, yet was surely as bothered as the rest of them, deep inside.

His elbows on the low table, Professor Mihashi steepled his hands, affecting a scholarly aura. "Well, you see. Physiologically speaking, sea-dwelling people are not so different from land dwellers when it comes to body composition. Seafolk may seem to have extra membranes, but another way of putting it is that it's _us _landfolk who have what you call vestigial organs. These organs have existed all along, but we just don't use or have no use for them." The professor halted, briefly met Hikari's cerulean eyes and then, addressed the room in a serious tone, "In Manaka-chan's case, it's like her body is rejecting the parts that make her a sea person."

Hikari balled his hands into fists and Chisaki noticed the tremor strumming his voice as he hissed through gritted teeth, "How do we make it stop?"

The professor's shoulders sagged as he exhaled like a deflated balloon. "I'm afraid I don't know how. We might ask help from a physician who has some experience treating illnesses amongst seafolks."

"But seafolk _don't _get sick like that. Manaka losing her ena, this the first time I've heard of something like this happening," Akari spoke up, mindlessly petting Akira's crop of hair as the little boy dropped off harmlessly on her lap. The tyke had exhausted himself earlier scampering about the Kiharas' yard. Akari added, "Even Miuna gaining ena is a miracle."

It was subtle, but Miuna stiffened when her name was mentioned, then curled her hand close to her chest, her head dropping as she turned away. A veil of silence hung over the room, thoughts brewing in each and every mind, questions with little or next to no answers. What of the sea village's fate now? What of Manaka's? Would she remain in that comatose state forever? Was her current condition a punishment for taking her away from the clutches of the Sea God? Was the Sea God punishing them for their defiance by punishing Manaka?

Suddenly, _bang!_

Chisaki flinched outwardly at the sound of somebody pounding his fist on the wooden partitions. Heads whirled around to find Hikari hunched over by the wall, breathing laboriously as he lashed out, "It's unfair! Why does she have to go through this much pain!? This is all the Sea God's doing!" The paper-thin walls reverberated as Hikari banged his fist once more.

"Hikari," Akari chided quietly, a hint of warning in her timbre. "Sit down, please."

Hikari did not respond, but obliged by dropping down heavily to the floor in one corner of the room. Nobody dared to interrupt him during his brooding. Right at that moment, the sliding door went _ssshhkk_, admitting Akari's husband, Itaru, and an older bespectacled man in a white frock who was most likely the doctor. The general physician was ushered in to examine Manaka's condition. He was just as baffled by her medical case, comparing Manaka's condition to a disease like eczema, the symptoms alike but not exactly the same, so he could not prescribe the conventional treatment. For now, he agreed that Chisaki should continue applying copious amounts of saltwater to at least alleviate the inflammation. They knew how not to make it worse, but they did not know how to make it better either.

After the physician left, Chisaki went upstairs to smoothen out her futon so they could transfer Manaka to her room, where Akari helped wipe down Manaka more thoroughly and changed the girl into one of Chisaki's pajamas. It was disturbing how Manaka did not react to their touch even once. The matter of Manaka eclipsed much discussion about everything else that happened when they reached the sea village and Chisaki discovered the boys and Miuna in the midst of recounting their experience to the adults as she reentered the living area. They all had their various responsibilities – work, school, home – but already, they were breaking routine, staying just to listen to Hikari and the others' stories.

Hikari and Kaname took turns to relay how Miuna alone could hear the _krrrssh, krrrssh _of gritty sand and lead the way until they came into contact with what seemed to be an invisible barrier that encapsulated the whole village, how the saltsnow was immensely thick their shoes made tracks wherever they treaded, how the hibernating sea people eerily resembled ice sculptures that if you made a mistake shoving one, it might just shatter into a thousand pieces. Chisaki vaguely felt like she was reliving a horrible nightmare. She had always been steeped in recollections of the past, painful but wonderful memories of her underwater home, but she forgot how cruel reality could be. She wanted the stories to stop, yet they continued. She wished to stop listening of her own accord, but she was compelled to hear the end through. Miuna went on to narrate how she met Uroko-sama outside Hikari's elementary school and how they found Manaka inside a crevice, nesting on the palm of a giant hand like a precious pearl within a clam, encrusted with a thick layer of cobwebs, and surrounded by mountain piles of wooden maidens.

"...like a place of sacrifice," Miuna finished, her voice brittle.

Chisaki whispered so softly she could have been telling herself, "Or a graveyard..."

Again, Silence permeated the room, the kind that was too uncomfortable and suffocating. Hikari was the first to break out of his mute state. "I'm gonna go back down there to give Uroko-sama and that Sea God a piece of my mind!"

"Just because he's a god, doesn't mean he should toy with the lives of humans! And for what purpose!?"

Chisaki's eyes enlarged, not because of Hikari's outburst, but because he felt _that _strongly still. Yet again, she had to remind herself that what would be five years for her would only be a matter of days for Hikari, for Kaname, and now, for Manaka too.

Akari, the older sister that she was, was thankfully there to keep Hikari in check, chastising him. "Hikari, you better stop this self-destructive behavior right this instance! I'm sure the professor and everybody else in here will agree that we need to further investigate Shioshishio, but we can mull it over again tomorrow when we've gotten some proper rest."

The hard lines on Hikari's face diminished as he fell quiet, his gaze spilling downwards. Then, he did the unexpected by bending on his knees and prostrating on the floor in sincere apology. "I'm very sorry for my behavior just now."

Akari smiled in relief. Her only words were, "Let's go home."

The Shiodome family got up to their feet then and said their goodbyes to Chisaki, Tsumugu, Kaname, and the professor. Young Akira, who was still dozing, was entrusted to his father's care. Miuna hung back by the door, waiting for Hikari, who was conversing with Chisaki and Tsumugu.

"I'll come back tomorrow to see how Manaka's doing."

Chisaki momentarily heeded Miuna's apprehensive figure standing by the entrance, before turning her attention back on Hikari. "She'll wake up. The doctor said so."

It was peculiar how Hikari's cool blue eyes, eyes the shade of the sea, seemed to blaze fervently with fire as he said, voice laced with conviction, "She _will_."

Chisaki could feel a slight quivering in her heart at the power that those few words held. Hikari was strong. He always had been. Her gaze strayed to Miuna, who was still at the door, and was taken aback, for she suddenly had an impression of staring at a mirror image of herself. Hikari noticed the shift in Chisaki's expression and swung about to find Miuna behind him. "Miuna?"

Miuna pricked up like she was caught red-handed in the middle of a wrongdoing, but she recovered quickly. "Oh! Hikari, mom's waiting for us outside."

"Right," yielded Hikari, bidding everyone farewell and followed Miuna through the door and out into the daylight. Dim light prevailed again as soon as the last sliver of sunlight was shut out at the closing of the door. The people remaining in the living room began to stir once more.

"I need to go out again. You don't need to wait up for me, Hiradaira-san." The professor donned his jacket and hurried out the door in a flurry before Chisaki could put in a word.

Chisaki retracted her hand. She produced a helpless sigh and then, hands on hips, faced Tsumugu and Kaname, smiling. "Well, what shall we have for dinner?"

1 of 2 / End

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And again I told myself this would be a oneshot, but I seem to keep breaking off at a point. Please note that I started writing this before Episode 19 aired, before I knew what would happen in Episode 19, so I may have amped too much on the angst and drama. Manaka doesn't stay with the Chisaki and Tsumugu as I predicted, as well as some other things. This is just how I imagined the story would play out after Episode 18.

I wanted to write something about TsugumuxChisakixKaname, but then, I got pulled into the polyhedron, haha. Part 2 would have more TsugumuxChisakixKaname, though. I'd love to hear the readers' thoughts on what they'd like to see, hehe.

The Mermaid Tears folklore really does exist, if anybody's curious. You can look it up on the internet. Though, I did take some liberties. 'Til the next update! :)


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